01/22/2015 – Ephemeris – Let’s spot the Moon and Mars with a bonus look at Neptune

Ephemeris for Thursday, January 22nd.  The sun will rise at 8:11.  It’ll be up for 9 hours and 25 minutes, setting at 5:37.   The moon, 2 days past new, will set at 8:44 this evening.

Tonight the crescent moon is nearing Mars low in the southwest in the early evening.  The motion of Mars has been interesting for the last few months.  Even though the Sun is overtaking it in the sky, it has been setting later each night, not earlier.  This is due to the fact Mars is moving northeasterly in the sky, and the sun also is setting later.  The moon, is a thin crescent.  In binoculars, the terminator is crossing the small, near circular Sea of Crises near the top of the crescent.  Lower down, in binoculars and especially in small telescopes a beautiful crater of Langrenus is fully visible.  I have a picture of it from Apollo 8, a photograph from orbit.  It looks pretty much like it will be visible tonight only a lot clearer.

Times are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan.  They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Magnified field with Mars, and the Moon. Neptune is also in the field for 7 p.m. January 22, 2015. Created using Cartes du Ceil (Sky Charts).

The Moon with Earth shine at 7 p.m. January 22, 2015. Created using Virtual Moon Atlas and GIMP.

The crater Langrenus as imaged by the Apollo 8 crew on their historic orbiting of the Moon Christmas Eve 1968. Credit: NASA.